Wood

I have been waiting patiently for the Achray campground area for backcountry camping at Algonquin Park to open for quite some time now. Due to weather reasons, the opening of certain areas were delayed and that made me really sad. The park is open for business now and I am a happy lady! I am, in

Packrafting on Grand Lake

fact, so happy that I have already booked some backcountry camping for this Thursday and Friday!

I was so excited for the opening of parks in Ontario this weekend that I woke up at 4 in the morning on Saturday and drove to Algonquin Park. It was a glorious morning and it was an equally glorious day. I had brought all of the no-bake energy bites I had made that week and a bag of Mountain House Lasagna with Meat Sauce for trail fuel. I guess my SO loved my peanut butter bites because by the time we were hiking back to the car, there were none left!

I arrived early morning and I parked at the Achray campground site where the Eastern Pines Backpacking trail is and walked down the old railway road that is missing some serious train tracks action. I walked down that road until I got to the CN Beachburg-Alderdale bridge. From there I took a few pictures and made my way back because I thought it would be a good idea to bushwhack closer to Grand Lake. It was a bit hard but nice and I found a nice place to set up my Alpacka packraft and start my water journey!

Packrafting Adventure. I just started using Google Earth. I’m cool like that.

A lot of parks have delayed their openings this month due to floods and other reasons but that doesn’t stop me from venturing into the unknown. On Sunday, I visited the not-yet-open Fitzroy Provincial Park. Since it was raining (Yes, I go hiking in the rain. I’m crazy like that.) and my Canon Rebel T3i is not very functional when wet, I chose to leave it at home. Just like every other time where I chose to leave it behind: something awesome happened. I never learn apparently. Even my professors in college repeatedly told me to carry my equipment at all times: I still don’t do it. What a great photographer I am! I blame it on me being a lazy bum. This equipment gets quite heavy to carry through the woods to be honest. Add a backpack full of food and other gear and you are in for quite the workout! I love it but still want to whine about it sometimes. (#firstworldproblems – I am entitled to whine about shit that doesn’t require whining about.)

As I was saying, something awesome happened on Sunday: I found a beautiful but small waterfall. I am not sure when during the year it’s best to view this waterfall as it looks as though it’s made from the snow thawing in the Spring but I could not be positive on that. There is no real information out there that I could find on this waterfall. If anyone has real information such as a name, I’d be happy to include it. Of course, I plan on going back so I will be able to get the information once the park opens as no information or maps were posted on the bulletin boards.

I went back last night, making my SO race against daylight to get there during the leftover daylight after work. The time stamped on my photos states 7:50 PM and that’s about right. I caught the sun going down and reflecting off the rocks for a big 80 seconds! I have to also mention that these photos are my very first long exposure photography and I am pretty happy with the results!